Heart and Soul

Episode 79

We Need To Talk

By Allan Craig

 

In the days since the fight that had resulted in Nate walking out on her, Carrie Masters had barely slept. She sat on the edge of her sofa, trying to lose herself in the drama playing out on her TV screen, but all she could think about was Nate, and if he was ever coming back.

 

Upon hearing a knock at the door, Carrie got up and walked across the living room, opening the door to see Jessica Monroe standing on the porch.

 

“How are you holding up?” Jessica asked her long time best friend before holding up a brown paper bag. “I know it’s a little early for wine, so I brought us some Ben and Jerry’s.”

 

Carrie stood aside to let her best friend into the house before closing the door. “Not a word. I have no idea where he is…Jess, what if he never comes back?”

 

“He’ll come back.” Jessica promised. “He just needs time to cool off, that’s all.”

 

“How are things with you and Rex?” Carrie quickly changed the subject. “Any better?”

 

“Now that he’s been offered this promotion, I don’t know…” Jessica shrugged. “I think he wants to take it, and who am I to stand in his way?”

 

“But you’re not going to move to Philadelphia with him, are you?” with everything that was going on with Nate, the last thing Carrie wanted was for her best friend to move away as well.

 

“No way,” Jessica insisted, determined not to let a man uproot her entire life. “Do you really think I’d let myself put up with all his crap all over again, only to be in a different city where I wouldn’t know anyone?”

 

“I suppose.” Carrie walked into her kitchen, followed by Jessica, and produced two spoons from a drawer as Jessica freed the tub of ice cream from the paper bag and opened the lid. “I dunno, Jess, how do we get ourselves into these messes?”

 

“Don’t blame us, Car,” Jessica stabbed her spoon into the ice cream. “Blame the men. I mean, all we want is happy relationships and they cant seem to commit to that. It’s like whenever things show signs of settling down, they throw some more shit at the fan and we’re just left to deal with it? And then we’re the bitches for reacting to it?”

Carrie took a spoonful of the ice cream and followed it with another. Upon hearing the front door open and close again, she felt her heart begin to race as the knots in her stomach tightened, bracing herself for what was sure to be one hell of a confrontation with Nate.

 

 

“We need to talk.” Kimberley Sterling announced as she stood in the doorway to Megan’s apartment, a bottle of wine in one hand.

 

“In case you’re forgetting, Kimberley, I cant really drink right now.” Megan glanced down at her expanding stomach. “What do you want, anyway?”

 

“I wanted to apologise.” Kimberley explained as she made her way into the spacious apartment. “I should have called you while I was away, I had no right to put you through what I did, especially given everything that’s going on here.”

 

In all the years she had known her sister, Megan had never once heard Kimberley apologise for anything; from when Kimberley had dropped Megan’s Barbie Sports Car from the upstairs balcony and watched it shatter into a million pieces in the back yard when they were kids, until the time she crashed Megan’s car and pretended it had been stolen, never once was ‘sorry’ said from Kimberley’s mouth.

 

“Okay, what are you up to?” Megan raised an eyebrow, wondering if her sister had an ulterior motive for coming by.

 

“What, why does a girl need to be up to something to come by and make things right?”

 

“Most girls don’t.” Megan smiled. “You, on the other hand…”

 

“Oh whatever, Megan. I’m just trying to make things okay between us again. Besides, I don’t want your kid to come into this world with us at each other’s throats. At least this time I become an aunt, I’m to actually get to see the kid before it turns one.”

 

“Are you sure about that? You wont be jetting off to Hollywood any time soon again?”

 

“Believe me.” Kimberley rolled her eyes. “Hollywood is overrated.”

 

 

Standing in the elevator on her way up to Shane’s office at Sterling Enterprises, Diane checked her makeup one last time in her compact before sliding it into her handbag. She glanced around the familiar hallways of the building that her then husband once owned, making her way to the biggest office in the building and tapping seductively on the open door.

 

Shane looked up from his desk. “Well, well, well…to what do I owe this honour?”

 

“Let’s just say I have a little business proposal for you.” Diane pouted, hoping to disarm Shane with her feminine wiles.

 

“Really,” Shane sounded disinterested as he returned to reviewing some documents that sat on his desk. “And what exactly would that be.”

 

“You know that, what with the fact the press is currently eating you alive, the value of this company is falling faster than you would care to admit.” Diane made her way into the office and took a seat on the edge of Shane’s desk. “And I’m very aware that John and Joseph made you a perfectly reasonable offer to take you half of Sterling Enterprises off of your hands, an offer that still stands, might I add…”

 

“I’m not selling.” Shane stated. “Now if you wouldn’t mind, I’m kind of busy. Shut the door on your way out, would you?”

 

“Oh Mr. Baldwin, you of all people should know that the Sterlings do not give up at the first attempt. Fortunately for you, the only sibling you had to encounter was Jackie, and believe me, when you put John and Joseph together, their dear, departed sister is a pussycat in comparison. Why don’t you save all of us a whole lot of trouble and just sell up, you’re going to in the end, at least this time you wont be losing out on money.”

 

“Don’t make me laugh, Diane.” Shane smirked. “What? Did Joseph send you here to seduce me into selling up? He could have forked out for a younger model, but even then, I wouldn’t be interested. I’m here to stay, and nothing that fiancé and ex husband of yours can do is going to change that. So why don’t you stop embarrassing yourself by trying to tease me with that little flash of leg you’ve got going on there and run along home to Joseph. And while you’re there, tell him that Sterling Enterprises is not for sale. Got it?”

 

“Very well.” Diane refused to rise to Shane’s bait, “But one way or another, you wont be sat behind that desk for much longer.”

 

“I’m shaking.” Shane laughed as Diane made her way out of the office, closing the door behind her.

 

Once outside, Diane’s rage boiled to the surface, she had never let a man talk to her the way Shane just did, and she wasn’t about to let him get off lightly either. This wasn’t just about business anymore; now it was personal, and Diane was determined that Shane Baldwin was going to pay.

 

 

Having made a hasty exit from Carrie’s upon Nate’s return, Jessica arrived at her apartment to find Rex placing some CDs into a box.

 

“So you’re really leaving?” Jessica asked her apparently soon-to-be ex boyfriend.#

 

“Just getting some stuff ready to ship out there.” Rex didn’t want to leave without Jessica, but it was looking like something that would be more and more likely considering her reaction to his promotion.

 

“I thought you said you weren’t going to take this promotion unless I was okay with it.” Jessica reminded Rex of his promise, although the truth was she didn’t want to hold him back.

 

“I was hoping maybe you’d have had time to think things over, to cool off…”

 

“To cool off? Are you serious?” despite her resolve to remain calm and composed, she felt like she was hitting her head against a brick wall where Rex was concerned. “Rex, if you think I’m going to drop everything and follow you to Philadelphia while you further your career considering how committed you’ve been to this relationship recently, then you’ve got to look hard at why I wouldn’t want to come. You’ve left me time and time again for more important things happening at work, why would I want to go through that again while living somewhere where I don’t know anyone? You’re expecting me to put all of my eggs in one basket here, why would I want to do that?”

 

“Because you love me?” Rex walked closer to Jessica. “Or am I just being presumptuous there?”

 

“Of course I love you.” Jessica insisted. “I just don’t see why I’m expected to commit to you when you’ve done nothing to commit to me.”

 

“I know it’s asking a lot of you, but cant you trust me when I promise that it’s going to be different in Philadelphia. I’m going to have five guys below me doing the job that I do right now, I’ll be able to delegate responsibility more and spend more time with you.”

 

“You wont be able to delegate a thing, you’ll just get more and more involved in these things and then I’m left sitting hundreds of miles away from my friends and family twiddling my thumbs while I wait for you to spend any sort of time with me. I’m sorry, Rex, but you cant seriously expect me to put up with that, can you?”

 

“I suppose not.” Rex’s face dropped as his eyes trailed off.

 

“Rex, don’t be mad at me…you know that I love you…I just cant risk being let down by you again. I’ve got a life here in Oakridge; I have friends, I have family, I’m in the middle of building something really good with my career, I cant just give all of that up for…”

 

“For me?”

 

And there it was, the question that Jessica had been wrestling with since Rex first dropped the bombshell of his promotion; did she love being with Rex enough to put her life in Oakridge on hold indefinitely?

 

 

The door to the Sterling mansion opened and a weak Leo made his way inside, held up by Kendall as Lucy held open the door.

 

“Careful, careful…” Kendall warned her brother.

 

“I can walk just fine.” Leo hated that he was being treated like a child by his younger sisters. They made their way into the living room and Leo sat down on the sofa, Kendall sat next to him and Lucy sat on the arm of the couch.

 

“You’re body’s been through a lot, Dr. Stafford said you need to rest.” Kendall explained, fearing that her brother was not taking his condition seriously.

 

“Would you get off my back?” Leo snapped. “I’m fine.”

 

“We’re only trying to help.” Lucy reminded her older brother. “Is there anything I can go get you?”

 

“A drink.”

 

“Nice try, but I don’t think you’ll be getting anywhere near alcohol for a while Mr.” Kendall assured her brother, unaware that her concern had given her a patronising tone, something that irritated Leo to no end.

 

“I’m a grown ass man, I can have a drink if I want one. Lucy, run along and pour me a vodka, would you?”

 

“Do you have any idea how close you were to dying?” Kendall yelled at her brother, simultaneously stopping Lucy in her tracks. “You have put your body through hell and now that you’re on the road to recovery you’re not about to jeopardise that for a drink, got it?”

 

“Who the hell are you talking to?” Leo tried to stand up, but his body wouldn’t let him. As much as he tried to overcome it, he wasn’t in total control of his body and he hated every second of it. “I want a drink, got it? So Lucy, be a doll and go get me an Absolut on the rocks before I die of thirst.”

 

“You are not touching a drop of alcohol until you’re better.” Kendall decided; what Leo wanted didn’t matter, she wasn’t about to risk losing him again. “And even then, you’re going to be doing it in moderation. Drinking isn’t going to bring Grace back, Leo, it’s not going to make your problems go away.”

 

“You have absolutely no right to bring my daughter into this. I’m not a little kid, Kendall, I don’t have to explain myself to you and I sure as hell don’t have to answer to you, so stop trying to tell me what to do.” Leo scowled. “Now, Lucy, for the last time, get me a drink. And get me my cell phone while you’re at it, I better call Natalie and see how she’s doing.”

 

“You haven’t told him?” Lucy asked Kendall.

 

“Told me what?” Leo asked.

 

“The thing is…Natalie’s left town.” Kendall explained, trying to avoid any eye contact with her older brother. “I think it all just got too much for her.”

 

Leo clenched his fist as he attempted to block his sisters out of his mind right now, this was just what he needed; the one other person who knew what he was going through was god knows where.

 

 

 

Having left Leo in Lucy’s hands, Kendall took the elevator ride up to Shane’s office and marched right in, just as Shane took a seat behind his desk.

 

“Well, well, isn’t this a surprise?.” Shane remarked as Kendall stopped in front of his desk, folding her arms and glaring at him with enough rage to fuel a rocket. “Is this visit business, or pleasure?”

 

“Oh believe me, Shane, there is nothing pleasurable about being anywhere near you.” Kendall could feel her skin crawl the more time she spent in Shane’s presence; the man she had idolised for so long was now the man she wanted to see flattened by a truck. “I just thought I’d let you know that your position within this company is no longer valid, and you can either pack up your stuff and leave quietly or I’ll have you escorted from the premises, it’s up to you.”

 

“I’m going nowhere, Kendall, I thought we established that.” Shane wasn’t about to let a girl half his age tell him what to do. “Now how about you run along and play with your toys and leave running this multi million dollar company to me.”

 

“You listen to me, Shane Baldwin, I will never forgive you for putting my brother in hospital…”

 

“Nobody forced Leo to take those drugs.” Shane reminded her.

 

“…and even if it’s the last thing I do, I will bring you down. As of now, you’re an executive at this company in name only, you have no power and everything you do has to be approved by John and myself. And of course, nothing you do is going to be approved, so why don’t you save what little pride you have left and crawl back under whatever hole it is you crawled out of in the first place. You’re over, Shane, you’re done.”

 

“Dear, sweet, pathetic, naïve, clueless little Kendall, you really have no idea who you’re up against here, do you?” Shane warned. “And unless you want to find out, I advise that you back off, got it? I’ve already fended off your pathetic uncles, as well as a charming little visit from your aunt Diane today; believe me, sweetheart, I could crush you like a bug.”

 

“This isn’t over.” Kendall shook her head as she made her way out of the office. “Not by a long shot.”

 

Kendall slammed the door behind her as Shane laughed victoriously, although Kendall was determined that she would soon wipe that grin off of his face.

 

 

“So did you plan on saying goodbye to me at all? Or did you just think you could slip in and out unnoticed and never see me again?” Carrie asked as she stood in her bedroom, watching Nate stuff some of his things into a suitcase.

 

“Give me some credit, would you?” Nate continued to stuff his belongings into the case, trying to avoid any eye contact with Carrie. “This isn’t working out; you know it, I know it, and if you want to just go on pretending that it is while hating me for not telling you every last second of my life story, then things are just going to get worse.”

 

“But I want this to work, what part of that cant you see?” Carrie insisted as she glared at Nate, hoping that their eyes would meet. “I love you, I want to be with you, I want to get married to you, I want us to have kids together…”

 

“You want to grow old with me and live a perfect life with a perfect family and the perfect marriage. Throw in a white picket fence and you’ve got your idea of the perfect existence; but that’s your fantasy, Car, not mine.”

 

“How do you know that’s what I want?”

 

“Because I know you.” Nate explained, perching on the edge of the bed with his back to Carrie. “And that’s what you want. You want to have the same life as your parents, Carrie, and you want a happy, uncomplicated existence, and I’m sorry, but I cant give you that.”

 

“It’s not about what you can give me, Nate, it’s about you. I just want you to open up to me.” Carrie glared at the back of Nate’s head, willing him to turn around and look at her. She reached across the bed and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around to face her. “How am I supposed to love you and accept who you are if I don’t know who you are?”

 

Nate pulled and turned away. “You wouldn’t understand, Carrie, cant we just leave it at that? Why do you need to know every last detail?”

 

“Because I love you, and want to be with you, but this… this is not going to work if you continue to keep secrets from me. My god, what is it that is so terrible that you cant tell me, the woman you proposed to, about?”

 

“Don’t you get it, Carrie?” Nate got up and zipped his suitcase shut, “It isn’t just one thing, it’s my whole entire life. How am I supposed to put my past behind me if you insist on dragging it up at every opportunity?”

 

“Please,” Carrie pulled on Nate’s arm, hoping to stop him from getting any further away, “Don’t leave. If we love each other, we can get through this.”

 

“Honestly, I don’t think you can…” Nate explained, making his way towards the bedroom door and down the stairs, followed by Carrie, whose eyes had begun to well up with tears. Nate opened the front door to the house, but Carrie grabbed his arm one more time and pulled him in close, and suddenly their eyes met.

 

“We can take it slow.” Carrie promised. “Just don’t leave.”

 

Nate dropped his suitcase to the ground and wrapped his arms around Carrie as she buried her head in his chest. He couldn’t leave her, no matter how much he thought it was for the best for Carrie, he knew they were supposed to be together. Carrie sighed with relief upon stopping Nate from leaving, although she knew this wasn’t for good; if she and Nate had any chance of staying together long term, they would need to work at it, for better or for worse.

 

Outside, she watched from the solitude of her car as the door to Carrie and Nate’s house closed. She started her ignition and drove off into the darkness, knowing that this couple were about to become very familiar to her. She’d let them have tonight, but tomorrow was another day.

 

 

Diane handed Joseph a glass of red wine and sat down next to him on the sofa, the roaring fire being the only light in the room.

 

“God knows I need this after the day I’ve had.” Diane swirled the dark liquid around her glass; never before had a man made her feel so foolish as Shane had done earlier, and no matter how much she tried to put it to the back of her head, it was all she could think about.

 

“I suppose getting your hair and nails done really does drain you a little, huh?” Joseph joked, unaware of his fiancée’s visit to see Shane earlier that day.

 

“You don’t know the half of it.” Diane pretended to be insulted as she took a sip of her wine, just as a knock at the door interrupted their quiet moment. Diane stood up and placed her glass on the coffee table before making her way across the living room and opening the door. In the hallway in front of her stood Kendall, her face overcome with rage.

 

“Whatever it is you’re up to,” Kendall barged past Diane and made her way into the apartment. “Count me in.”

 

“Excuse me?” Joseph asked upon seeing his niece standing in front of him. “What do you mean?”

 

“I know that you tried to buy out Shane’s half of the company, and I know that he turned you down. Now it’s not like you to give up at the first hurdle, so whatever it is you’re up to, I’m in.” Kendall announced, determined to get Shane as far away from her family as possible before he could do any more damage.

 

TO BE CONTINUED…